Northern India Struggles Through Cold Snap

Northern India continues to be at the mercy of a cold snap that has gripped the region. It has disrupted life and has reportedly claimed a dozen lives as the homeless and elderly struggle.

Weather officials have reported Leh town in Ladakh region recording minimum temperatures of -23C for two consecutive nights.

Kargil town also witnessed extremely cold nights with minimum temperatures of -18.2C. In North Kashmir the cold snap was intensified in Gulmarg skiing resort with temperatures falling to -11.7C and Pahalgam health resort in South Kashmir registering -12.4C. The gateway to Kashmir valley, Qazigund, also registered a chilling temperature of -10.4C.

New Delhi is also experiencing one of their coldest winter days with the temperature dropping on Sunday to its coldest day this winter to 7.8C – this is cold by the standards of the Indian capital. New Delhi has been hit with thick fog which has been disrupting flights and train services.

KP Kulshreshtha, director of the Uttar Pradesh meteorological office, has reported they are expecting temperatures to drop by another degree or two in the coming days.

Residents are already struggling to keep warm as most homes in India do not have central heating while homeless people gathering around street fires trying to keep warm are a common sight throughout Northern India. Night shelters for the poor in Delhi are overflowing and the government release of blankets are usually fall short of demand.

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